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LA Times Article Rebuttal Replies

Listed below are more repies that Garrick has received from his rebuttal to the TJ Simers article. Actual names are not listed without permission.


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Dear Mr. Simers, I read your recent article full of demeaning remarks pointed at the Nebraska fans soon to visit your area. We come to expect so little from the narrow minded left coasters and you have not disappointed us. You personally offer so little. Your barbs are pointed at some of the finest Americans. Your comments were unprovoked and unwarranted. How your paper allows you to print such drivel is beyond the comprehension of fine upstanding readers everywhere. Had your comments been because of some kind of football rivalry, they might have been understandable while still inappropriate. About the only thing you failed to do was call our black citizens "niggers" and our Latin residents "spics".

It takes so little to fulfill our expectations of the "politically conscience" residents of California. You have failed to even live up to that goal. Your slander is not only politically incorrect, it was down right malicious. The next time you look at your meal, perhaps you should wonder where it came from. Every Nebraska farmer is feeding well over 100 of you ignorant city dwellers. As for the Nebraska hicks, while we represent less than 1% of the population, we have produced 59 Academic All-American athletes, far more than any other school in America. I don't think California schools even show up on that radar screen.

Nebraska doesn't have major professional athletic teams so we support our College teams. We have lots to cheer about too. Football, baseball, gymnastics, volleyball, track....all first class, unlike you. We are not band wagoners. We follow our teams win our lose. We have class and understanding of sports, unlike you. We give the opponents an ovation, in respect, when they leave the field because we have manners and morals. We don't boo the other teams like the Californians do. We follow our teams in mass to their venues. We are proud fans.

Perhaps you figure on 20,000 fans schlepping in and out of your city, dropping a few bucks on a Hollywood tour and leaving. Well, lucky for you, there will probably be closer to 60,000. They will be staying in your hotels, eating in your restaurants, and dropping a lot of their hard earned bucks. And they will expect little hospitality in return because of ignorant coastal idiots like you. But I think they will be surprised, as should you. There are lots of Nebraskans amongst you that you have not noticed because they aren't hugging trees, supporting lame-brained causes or rioting in the streets. They are the polite, well mannered people that are probably flooding you with e-mail because of your stupid comments. So next time you decide which sleeping giant to arouse, do your research a little better...you don't want to kick this one. We are also very loyal, well read, vocal, and WE DO NOT FORGET who our friends and enemies are. Philidelphia has nothing on us.

I hope you enjoy the RED masses traveling in, helping out your economy, because they might like to meet you personally. Have a nice Holiday Season, and maybe we will see you Jan 3.

Kim D. Wichita, KS Go Big Red!

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Subj: Sit this one out
Date: 12/12/2001 2:10:27 PM Mountain Standard Time
From: 10MileHusker
To: [email protected]

Hey T.J.

I'm from Nebraska and a Husker grad. I'm also a 48 year-old retired Silicon Valley executive. I have a home in NE. I also have a home in Los Altos, CA, Cherry Hills, CO and a lake home in Walker, MN. Guess what? I can't see a silo from any of them. I don't own a Winnebago (or any tractors) but I am on the Boards of several large, technology companies.

If I did choose to come to the Rose Bowl (instead I will be skiing in Beaver Creek), I would stay at the Ritz Carlton and dine at places you have only read about in the weekend reviews. I would sit wherever I wanted in the stadium. And I would spend the week paying to be places and do things to avoid local idiots like you.

So enough about me, let's look at you for a bit. I figure you earn, what, the equivalent of $100 a column? You are clearly out of material but still years and years away from a life of retirement. I picture you wearing a few imitation gold chains around your neck, a polyester shirt open two or three buttons and a cheap Men's Warehouse jacket and trousers (with mustard stains on them from all of the hot dogs you've eaten "analyzing" an endless succession of sporting events). You can't get interviews any longer because you've alienated all of the local talent with your pleasing personality and insight, so your columns are limited to your observations of what goes on before and after a sporting event. At nights, you hop from sleazy bar to sleazy bar putting the few dollars you have into the garters of dancers and coming up with witty pickup lines similar to those featured in your columns.

Look, you haven't been within a thousand miles of serious college football for twenty years. You don't have a clue what a good team looks like. So why don't you sit this one out? Focus on the Anaheim Ducks for the next few weeks and let the writers from Miami, Lincoln, Eugene, Boulder, Austin, etc. work this one. Maybe you can hang out outside of the locker rooms while these writers are doing their interviews and figure out how its done. But don't embarrass you or your paper any further.

Best Regards

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Regarding your hicks article on Neb. Husker fans, your ignorance has been revealed. I think a hick is someone who talks out of ignorance and who makes statements based on hand-me-down myths because he is too lazy to check any facts.

Did you know that NU not only leads the nation in academic All-Americans in football by a large number over #2 Notre Dame but we also lead in all sports combined?? "No, I didn't." you say. Just as I figured - you didn't check the facts. USC and UCLA aren't any where close to NU.

But ignorance would have you believe otherwise. As NU fans we can and do overlook weak minded insults like yours. Our football team normally takes care of things on the field and the fans - well we just feel sorry for the poverty of soul that is evident to all. The bigger problem with your kind of trash talk is that it is to similar to the other type of hate talk and class characterization that occurs far too often in our country. It only destroys the fabric that makes our country strong.

Hicks can be found anywhere - depending on who is doing the name calling. Based on your article, I guess the real Hicks live in So. Cal. after all.

Oh, by the way - Thank God for the food you are eating today. It mostly likely came from Nebraska or another Midwest state like my home state of South Dakota.

Ron S. Tulsa, Ok

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Dear Editor:

Recently I moved to Orange County and switched my subscription from LA Times to the OC Register. Since then I have been unhappy with the Register and was planning on re-subscribing with the Times. That is no longer an option for me based on the most tasteless article I have ever read by one of your authors.

I understand the need for edge reporting, I comprehend the push to have an angle that gets your articles read above others - but prejudice and bigotry in any shape and form simply goes too far, and is the worst kind of reporting.

Of the over 200,000 Nebraskan's that live in California, I am but one. I have never lived in my home state, in fact I've spent my 28 years in as many countries. But yearly vacations to Nebraska are a part of my life, and for all the thousands of people I've met across dozens of races and cultures, Nebraskan's are as kind, considerate, and advanced as any, and more so than most.

Yet never have my family and friends been so insulted, and by a writer for your "respected" newspaper, T.J. Simers. In his article:

Simers ridicules Nebraskan pride, slams our values, and (to my greatest shock) debases our women - resulting several times to basic, and self-admitted, name-calling.

I am a strong proponent of free speech - except when it comes to prejudism. When a respected newspaper allows articles that contains such open bigotry, it supports it and lends it strength. I'm horrified that your paper has stooped to this level, and being a Nebraskan has nothing to do with it. I respond in equal kind to slams on any group of people.

It may be that this particular author plays for shock-value, but I would have expected much better from the LA Times. In any event, I can't remember the last time I have read such outrageous slander and bigotry. The holier-than-thou attitude and degree to which the author degraded the people of Nebraska turned my stomach, and drasticly decreased the value of the LA Times in my mind.

I know that it is an empty threat to those who feel they are justified in whatever they say and publish, but I shall nevertheless raise this issue as much as necessary with the Californian's for Nebraska alumni. I simply can't think of the last time I've read a journalist depict such prejudice. It may not amount to much, but if I can get even a couple hundred members in the LA & Orange counties to switch papers, I can account for some of the author's salary. That's money right out of your pocket - and you've already lost mine forever.

Sincerely,

Joshua G.

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Just as there are sure to me twice as many Husker fans than Miami fans at the Rose Bowl, I predict that you will get twice as many angry emails from the heartland than you did from Philly.

This, however, is not an angry email, clearly, you just don't get it.

Being a native Californian married to a Husker I have to share my experiences with you. Our first date was Nebraska vs. UCLA in the Rose Bowl, September 10, 1998. The game looked a lot like the most recent Colorado game, we got killed by UCLA. As if that weren't bad enough the UCLA fans were atrocious, their behavior was disgusting and, given that I was wearing red and white that day, I feared for my saftey. I have been a Husker fan ever since and had the pleasure of attending my first game at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln last Thanksgiving, Colorado vs. Nebraska, what a thrill to be surrounded by truly classy fans that NEVER boo their team, or the opposing team for that matter. Gives me hope for humanity.

Patti Zeis

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Mr. Simers:

Are you aware that California students place last among the states in public school performance? Are you aware of your welfare rates, crime rates, divorce rates, etc.? How about smog? How about the cost of living? I doubt LA is scoring high on "best places in the country to live".

On the other hand, California is a great place to visit. I've lived there, so can say first hand, ". . . but I wouldn't want to live there." I'm back in Nebraska now. Life is peaceful; courtesy and decency are the daily norm. Let me cite an example of the difference in lifestyles: When a nude prowler invaded my Southern California neighborhood, the event was so commonplace, police didn't even respond. When a pedestrian tried to take my purse away from me on the streets of Redondo Beach, I didn't even bother with police. In Lincoln, NE, if a football player [or anyone else] even looks suspicious, the police are at the door. Yet, we don't have police dragging people out of cars and beating them. We also don't have gangs, drug kingpins, riots, racial violence, etc.

It goes without saying that Nebraska and the central states are synonymous. Nebraska has no patent on the good healthy lifestyle it enjoys. If you listen closely, you won't hear the good states that share our values criticizing our agricultural base or our lifestyle. You'll hear them say, "California is a great place to visit, but . . . ."

Trust me, you won't see bib overalls on LA streets . . . in fact, you don't see those in Nebraska anymore. You also won't find visitors from Nebraska enthused with the inane television schedule LA produces. Most of us find your entertainment industry ridiculous (talk about the "dumbing down of America", California is the one producing decadent and ridiculous programming -- and it's your school test scores that show the results). We'll skip the dregs of LA, thank you very much.

As for your reference to restrooms, well, you don't really deserve or want comment, do you?

We Nebraskans will be polite and courteous guests, Mr. Simers. We have to wonder, however, will LA reciprocate? With articles such as yours welcoming us to town, we don't feel so welcome.

Pamela Enchayan
Lincoln, NE

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T.J.,

Allow me to respond to your December 11, 2001 article, "Putting Out the Red Carpet for Cornhusker Folks". Your use of the words "hick" and "fine folks" to describe us Nebraskans, leaves me to wonder if you understand the definitions. Webster's dictionary defines hick and folk as:
hick: an unsophisticated provincial person.
folk: the great proportion of the members of a people that determines the group character and that tends to preserve its characteristic form of civilization and its customs, arts and crafts, legends, traditions, and superstitions from generation to generation

I guess your intent was to described the HUSKER football team as well as the fans from the great State of Nebraska. The HUSKERs consistently dominate their opponents using unsophisticated plays. The great proportion of the HUSKER team are of the highest character with Eric "Heisman" Crouch as their leader. The customs, legends, traditions and superstitions of Nebraska football are passes down from generation to generation. Customs such as a friendly hand shake when meeting people on the street, legends such as Johnny "The Jet" Rogers and Tommie Frazer and traditions like applauding the opponents when the game is over.

I'm sure your invitation to visit the Playboy mansion and the women of Nebraska -- well -- I'll let my wife's comments speak for themselves !

"Since when is immorality of the three Nebraska women who posed in Playboy an indicator of the numbers of attractive women in Nebraska. Maybe the fact that only 3 Nebraska women have posed in Playboy shows the level of morals that Nebraska women have and also shows that they have a high level of self respect and can use their brains to further themselves instead of T & A." -- enough said !!

We Nebraskans have strong morals, are sound in our customs and traditions, and use unsophisticated methods to kick butt on the football field!! I think I've gotten the point across.

C.B.